Companies frequently implement and maintain production networks for providing various types of information and services to their clients. Clients may include both clients internal to the company (e.g., managers, sales persons, etc.), as well as clients external to the company (e.g., customers purchasing information and services). Internal clients typically access such computer networks locally using, for example, a company intranet. External clients typically access such networks remotely using, for example, the Internet or a private network connection. Prior to deploying a client application for providing client information and services to a production network, companies typically implement a set of pre-defined procedures for identifying and resolving problems with the application and for generally verifying that the application functions as intended. A test environment within which the application may be deployed for the purpose of implementing such procedures is usually maintained. The test environment may also be utilized for resolving issues with existing client applications or production network infrastructure. Typically, the test environment is deployed within the production network in order to determine the response of the production network to the client application being deployed. Although various measures may be implemented for minimizing potential disruptions to live network traffic and existing client applications operating on the production network in real time, network traffic may nonetheless be inadvertently exchanged between the test environment and the production network. Moreover, deploying a test environment on an existing production network operating with live traffic severely limits the extent to which testing can be performed due to the potential for network saturation and production outages.
Despite the implementation of measures intended to secure the test environment from the production network, exchange of network traffic between the test environment and the production network may cause unintended consequences. Such consequences may include, for example, the disablement of a hardware component or software application within the production network that is necessary for the provision of information and services to clients. Additionally, information pertaining to procedures intended for testing the application within the test environment may inadvertently be communicated to the production environment and interpreted as an actual request by a client for information or a service. In such cases, the consequences may result in substantial financial and/or legal liabilities.
Accordingly, what is needed is a computer network for providing, among other things, a test environment suitable for troubleshooting client issues and testing client applications and infrastructure that is capable of accurate and precise modeling of the production network, but that is also sufficiently isolated from the production network such that consequences such as those described above are avoided.